Closure latch



Jan. 21, 1969 E. H. KLOVE. JR.. ETAL 3,423,117

CLOSURE LATCH Filed Aug. 17, 1967 Sheet of 2 INVENTORS 60 11/122 [Wu/x}: 5 BY (@1165 12/70 ATTORNEY Jan. 21, 1969 E. H. KLOVE, JR, ETAL 3,

CLOSURE LATCH ATTORNEY United States Patent 8 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A vehicle body door lock includes a pivotally mounted bolt movable between unlatched, intermediate latched, and fully latched positions and having two abutments offset with respect to each other axially of the bolt. One detent of a coaxial pair is biased to detented position. The one detent includes a foot which lies in the plane of movement of one bolt abutment and is engageable only with the one abutment in detented position to hold the bolt in intermediate latched position. A second foot of the one detent is engageable with a stop on the frame to locate the one detent in detented position against the bias. The other detent includes a foot which lies in the plane of movement of the other bolt abutment and is engageable only with the other bolt abutment in detented position to hold the bolt in fully latched position. The other detent has a portion which overlies a portion of the one detent and is biased into engagement therewith. An outside operating member is pivotally and slidably mounted on a fixed pin for shifting movement along the axis of the pin between locked and unlocked positions and pivotal movement about the axis of the pin in each position. The one detent includes a third foot which is engageable by the operating member when the operating member is pivoted about the pin in unlocked position to move both detents as a unit to undetented position. When the operating member is in locked position, the third detent foot is located out of the path of the operating member. A locking lever moves the operating member between locked and unlocked positions. An inside operating handle is coupled to the operating member in both locked and unlocked positions to swing the operating member about the axis of the fixed pin. Should the operating member be in locked position when the door is open and subsequently closed, the ratcheting of the one detent past the respective bolt abutment swings the one detent into engagement with the operating member to move the operating member to unlocked position. This movement of the operating member can be prevented by swinging the operating member about the axis of the fixed pin and out of the path of movement of the one detent before the door is closed.

This invention relates to closure latches and more particularly to vehicle body door locks.

One feature of this invention is that it provides an improved vehicle body door lock. Another feature is that the lock includes bolt means movable between an unlatched position and a number of latched positions, a plurality of detent means, at least one respective to each latched position of the bolt means, and operating means bodily shiftable between locked and unlocked positions and pivotally movable in each position, and means coupling the operating means with the detent means in the unlocked position of the operating means to release the detent means and permit movement of the bolt means to unlatched position. A further feature of this invention is that the bolt means are movable to at least an intermediate latched position and a fully latched position, the detent means respective to the intermediate latched position being located in the path of movement of the bolt means but in spaced relationship thereto when the bolt means are in the fully latched position and are engaged by the detent means respective to such position.

Yet another feature is that each of the detent means is engageable with the bolt means only in one latched position thereof. Yet a further feature is that the bolt means includes a plurality of abutments, each respective to one latched position of the bolt, and each detent means includes a movable member having a portion thereof located in the path of movement of only the one abutment which is respective thereto. Still another feature is that the detent members are coaxially mounted. Still a further feature is that at least one of the detent members includes means cooperating with means on the operating means for returning the operating means from locked position to unlocked position upon movement of the one detent member into engagement with a respective bolt abutment. Yet another feature is that the cooperating means can be rendered ineffective to return the operating means to unlocked position if so desired.

These and other features of the door lock of this invention will be readily apparent from the following specification and drawings wherein:

FIGURE 1 is a partial side elevational view of a vehicle body embodying a door lock according to this invention;

FIGURE 2 is a perspective view of the lock in unlocked position;

FIGURE 3 is a view of the lock in partially locked position;

FIGURE 4 is a view similar to FIGURE 3 showing the lock in fully locked position;

FIGURE 5 is a sectional view taken generally along the plane indicated by line 5-5 of FIGURE 3; and

FIGURE 6 is a sectional view taken generally along the plane indicated by line 66 of FIGURE 3.

Referring now particularly to FIGURE 1 of the drawings, a vehicle body 10 includes a front door 12 and a rear door 14, each of which is swingably mounted in a suitable manner adjacent its forward edge portion on the body 10 for movement between a closed position, as shown, and an open position, not shown. Door 12 is held in its closed position by a door lock, such as that shown and described in Patent 3,190,682, Closure Latch, Robert M. Fox and Edwin H. Klove, Jr. Door 14 is held in closed position by a door lock 16 according to this invention.

Referring now particularly to FIGURES 2 through 6 of the drawings, the lock 16 includes a main frame or plate 18 adapted to abut the end or jamb wall 20 of door 14 and to be secured thereto in a suitable manner such as by bolts extending through wall 20 into tapped embossments 22 of the plate 18. A fork type bolt 24 is pivotally mounted on a shouldered stud 26 extending between the main plate 18 and an auxiliary plate 28. Plate 28 is staked at 30 adjacent its upper edge portion to a lateral flange 32 of plate 18 and includes a lower laterally extending flange 34 which terminates in an offset bent flange 36 which is staked to the plate 18. The plate 28 further includes an offset lateral foot or flange 38, which is also staked to the plate 18. A pair of lateral flanges 40 are located to either side and laterally of the flange 34 and fixedly support a stud or pin 42. A wedge shaped nylon shoe 44 is slidably mounted on the pin 42 and is biased outwardly of the lock or to the right, as viewed in FIGURES 2 through 4, by a coil compression spring 46 seating against one of the flanges 40 and the shoe 44.

When the bolt 24 is in partially or fully latched position, as shown in FIGURES 3 and 4, respectively, the opening 48 of the bolt receives the shank 50 of a headed striker pin 52 which is secured in a suitable manner to the body lock pillar. The head of the striker pin engages the shoe 44 so that the pin is effectively trapped between the bolt 24 and the shoe 44. The main frame 18 is cut away at 54 and the end wall 20 and inner panel of the door 16 are also cut away to permit the entry of the striker pin into the lock. A flange 56 of plate 28 provides a-lead-in ramp to the shoe 44. Bolt 24 is normally biased toward unlatched position, as shown in FIGURE 2, or counterclockwise from the partially and fully latched positions shown in FIGURES 3 and 4, respectively, by a coil torsion spring 58 which surrounds the stud 26 and has one end thereof engaging a notched lateral tab 60 of the bolt and the other end thereof hooked within an opening in plate 28.

Primary and secondary detent means or detent members 62 and 64, respectively, are coaxially mounted on a shouldered stud 66 secured to the main plate 18. Each member includes a respective foot 68 and 70 which are selectively and alternately engageable with respective shoulders or abutments 72 and 74 of the bolt 24 to hold the bolt in either a fully latched position, as shown in FIGURE 4, or a partially or intermediate latched position, as shown in FIGURE 3. The shoulders 72 and 74 are respective to the fully latched and intermediate latched positions of the bolt 24 and the shoulder 74 is provided by a plate 76 which is welded or otherwise rigidly secured to the bolt 24. Shoulder 74 can, of course, be formed integral with the bolt 24 if so desired. As can be seen in FIGURE 6, the shoulders 72 and 74 are offset with respect to each other and lie in the planes of movement of the respective feet 68 and 70 of the detents 62 and 64 so that each detent foot can only engage its respective bolt shoulder and this engagement must be selective and alternate.

A coil torsion spring 78 surrounds the stud 66 and has one leg thereof engaging a notched lateral tab 80 of plate 28 and the other end thereof engaging a lateral flange 82 of an arm 84 of the detent 62. Another arm 86 of the detent 62 extends angularly to the arm 84 and includes a bent tab or flange 88 which is engageable against a rubber bumper 90 mounted on a flange 92 of plate 18 to locate the detent 62 against the action of the spring 78. A coil tension spring 94 is hooked between a notched lateral tab 96 of detent 64 and a notch in the flange 82 to hold an arm 98 of the detent 64 in engagement with the lower edge of the flange 82. A rubber sleeve or suitable cushioning means may be mounted on the arm 98 in order to reduce the noise caused by engagement of the arm 98 with the flange 82. The flange 82 further includes a lateral flange or tab 100 which provides automatic undogging as will be further described.

A shaft or pivot pin 102 extends the full length of the lock 16 between the upper flange 32 thereof and a lower flange 104 thereof and provides both a pivotal axis and a shifting axis for an outside operating means or member 106. Member 106 includes upper and lower apertured lateral flanges 108 and 110 which pivotally and slidably receive the shaft 102 to mount member 106 thereon. A tension spring 112 interconnects the member 106 and the flange 92 of plate 18 to continually bias the member 106 in a clockwise direction, as viewed in FIG- URE 2, with the member 106 being located against the action of the spring 112 in its inoperative or nonoperating position as shown by engagement of a flange 114 thereof with a tab 116 of flange 92.

Member 106 is adapted to be engaged at any one of a plurality of places thereon by a push rod 118 which is operated by conventional push button means 120, FIG- URE 1, incorporated in an outside handle 122 secured to the outer panel of the door 14. Since the member 106 is elongated vertically and extends substantially the full depth of the lock 16, the handle 122 may be positioned at various vertical places on the outer panel of the door 14 without requiring repositioning of the lock 16.

The flange 108 of the member 106 includes an upwardly offset foot 124 which is adapted to selectively engage an upwardly extending foot or arm 126 of the detent 62, and a downwardly offset foot 128 which is received between the legs of a forked inside locking lever 130 pivotally mounted at 132 on the plate 28. The locking lever 130 is movable between an unlocked position, as shown in FIGURES 2 and 3, and a locked position, as shown in FIGURE 4, and is selectively and alternately held in either position by an overcenter type coil torsion spring 134 hooked between the plate 28 and the locking lever. The locking lever is moved between these positions by a forked inside operating lever 136 which is pivotally secured at 138 to a lateral flange 140 of plate 28 and straddles a foot or leg 142 of the locking lever. The lever 136 is connected by a conventional shiftable rod and lever arrangement 144 with a conventional garnish button 146, FIGURE 1.

When the locking lever 130 is in its unlocked position as shown in FIGURES 2 and 3, the foot 124 of lever 106 is located in opposition to the foot 126 of the detent 62, and when the locking lever 130 is in its locked position, as shown in FIGURE 4, the foot 124 of lever 106 is located above the foot 126 of the detent 62.

When the locking lever is in its unlocked position, depression of the push button means 120 will shift rod 118 inwardly of door 14 and swing the lever 106 counterclockwise, as viewed in FIGURE 2, to move the foot 124 into engagement with the arm 126 of the detent 62 and swing the detent 62 counterclockwise, as viewed in FIGURE 4 to move the foot 68 thereof out of engagement with the shoulder 72 of the bolt 24 and thereby permit the spring 58 to move the bolt to its unlatched position.

The detent 64 will move counterclockwise simultaneously with the detent 62 by the engagement of the flange 82 of the detent 62 with the arm 98 of the detent 64 under the action of the spring 94. The bolt is located in unlatched position by engagement of one of the legs thereof with a lateral tab .148 of plate 18. Further, counterclockwise swinging movement of the detents 62 and 64 is limited by the engagement of the arm 126 of detent 62 with a lanced lateral tab 150, FIGURES 5 and 6, of plate 18. Should the bolt 24 be in a partially latched position as shown in FIGURE 3, both detents will also be swung counterclockwise as previously described to release the bolt for movement to unlatched position under the action of the spring 58.

When the locking lever is in its locked position, swinging movement of the member 106 will result in the foot 124 swinging above and past the arm 126 without engagement therewith so that the bolt remains in latched position.

The inside operating means includes a conventional remote handle 152, FIGURE 1, which operates a shiftable rod 154 interconnecting the handle and an inside operating lever 156 pivoted at 158 to the flange 104 of plate 18. Lever 156 is engageable with a depending foot 160 of member 106 to swing the member 106. The remote handle 152 is eifective only to release the detents 62 and 64 when the member 106 is in its unlocked position of FIGURE 3.

The bolt 24 is moved from unlatched position to either partially or fully latched position by engagement of the bolt with the shank 50 of pin 52. Upon movement of the bolt 24 from unlatched position, as shown in FIGURE 2, to partially latched position, as shown in FIGURE 3, the foot 70 of the detent 64 will ride up and over and into engagement with the shoulder 74 to retain the bolt in partially latched position. The detent 62 will ordinarily not move as the detent 64 rotates counterclockwise about the stud 66 against the action of the spring 94. Upon further movement of the bolt 24 from partially latched position to fully latched position, as shown in FIGURE 4, both detents will move as a unit about the stud 66 until the foot 68 of the detent 62 rides up and over and into engagement with the shoulder 72 to retain the bolt in fully latched position.

The lock 16 further includes the features of keyless locking and automatic undogging. Automatic undogging is accomplished by depressing the garnish button 146 when the door is in an open position so as to move the member 106 from its unlocked position of FIGURE 3 to its locked position of FIGURE 4 and thereafter moving the door 14 to fully latched position. As the door 14 moves to this position, the foot 68 0f the detent 62 will ride up and over and into engagement with the shoulder 72 so that the detent 62 will swing counterclockwise and then clockwise. When the detent 62 swings counterclockwise, the tab 100 thereof will engage a laterally extending tab 162 of the member 106 to shift the member 106 downwardly of the plate 18 and move the member from its locked position of FIGURE 4 to its unlocked position of FIGURE 3 and in turn also move the locking lever 130 from its locked position to its unlocked position. It is also possible for automatic undogging to occur if the bolt 24 moves to partially latched position. This can occur if the door is closed with suflicient force so that the foot 68 of the detent 62 rides up the shoulder 72 but does not ride over this shoulder. As the detent rides up the shoulder, it will, of course, be moved counterclockwise, and depending on the extent to which the foot rides up the shoulder, it is possible for automatic undogging to occur.

Keyless locking is accomplished in the same manner except that the push button means 120 is depressed and held during closing movement of the door so that the tab 162 of the member 106 is moved outwardly from underneath the tab 100 of the detent 62 so that the latter cannot engage the former as the detent swings counterclockwise.

As previously mentioned, the door may be closed with sufficient force so that the foot 68 of the detent 62 will ride partially up the shoulder 72 but not ride over this shoulder. As the spring 58 returns bolt 24, or moves it toward unlatched position, foot 68 rides down shoulder 72 as the spring 78 returns both detents, and particularly the detent 64, to their normal positions. Thus, the foot 70 of the detent 64 will be in a position to engage the shoulder 74 of the bolt as shown in FIGURE 3 to hold the 'bolt against movement past the intermediate latched position. Thus, as long as the door moves to the intermediate latched position or to any position between this position and fully latched position, the detent 64 is always in a position to engage the shoulder 74 upon return movement of the bolt toward unlatched position. When the door is closed, the movement of the bolt 24 to the fully latched position is a function of the force with which the door is closed and the seal pressure.

The door lock of this invention also offers a significant reduction in noise which is usually associated with locks having spaced shoulders respective to the intermediate latched position and fully latched position of the bolt. conventionally, only one detent is provided and the foot of this detent engages the edge of the bolt between the spaced shoulder if the bolt rotates to any latched position other than intermediate latched position. This engagement causes a clicking noise. In the lock of this invention, this is prevented by the flange 88 and rubber bumper 90 which locate the detent 62 in a position so that the foot 68 thereof cannot engage the edge of the bolt 24 counterclockwise of shoulder 72 when the bolt moves from unlatched position to fully latched position. Likewise, the spring 94 locates the detent 64 with respect to the detent 62 so that the foot 70 of the detent 64 also cannot engage the edge of the bolt counterclockwise of shoulder 74 when the bolt moves to either fully latched position or a temporary latched position short of this position, as hereinbefore described.

Thus, this invention provides an improved vehicle body door lock.

What is claimed is:

1. A closure latch comprising, in combination, support means, a latch bolt mounted on the support means for movement between an unlatched position and intermediate and fully latched positions, a pair of detent members movably mounted on the support means for movement between detented and undetented positions with respect to the bolt, each detent member being respective to one of the latched positions of the boltvand being engageable with the bolt when the bolt is in the one latched position and the respective detent member is in detented position to hold the bolt against movement to unlatched position, an operating member mounted on the support means for bodily shifting movement relative thereto along a fixed axis between locked and unlocked positions and pivotal movement relative thereto about the fixed axis in each position, means coupling the operating member with the detent members in the unlocked position to move the detent members to undetented position upon pivotal movement of the operating member about the fixed axis, and means for bodily shifting the operating member along the fixed axis to the locked position to uncouple the operating member and the detent members.

2. The combination recited in claim 1 wherein the detent member respective to the intermediate latched position is located in the path of movement of the bolt but in spaced relationship thereto when the bolt is in fully latched position and engaged by the detent member respective to such position.

3. The combination recited in claim 1 wherein the bolt is successively and alternately engageable with a respective detent upon movement thereof between intermediate and fully latched positions.

4. The combination recited in claim 1 including cooperating means on at least one of the detent members and the operating member for moving the operating member from locked to unlocked positions upon engagement of the one detent member with the bolt during movement of the bolt from unlatched position to the latched position respective to the one detent member.

5. The combination recited in claim 1 including means for rendering the cooperating means on the operating member and the one detent member inetfective to move the operating member to unlocked position during movement of the bolt from unlatched position to the latched position respective to the one detent member.

6. The combination recited in claim 1 wherein the support means includes an abutment engageable by one of the detent members to locate the one detent member in detented position, and means interconnecting the detent members for locating the other of the detent members with respect to the support means abutment in the detented position thereof.

7. The combination recited in claim 1 wherein the bolt includes at least two spaced abutments, each respective to one of the latched positions of the bolt, each detent member being engageable only with a respective abutment upon movement of the bolt between unlatched position and the latched position respective to the abutment.

8. A closure latch comprising, in combination, a support, a latch bolt mounted on the support for movement between an unlatched position and intermediate and fully latched positions, the bolt having two spaced abutments, each respective to one latched position of the bolt, a pair of detents mounted on the support for movement between detented and undetented positions with respect to the bolt, each detent being respective to only one bolt abutment and being engageable with a respective bolt abutment when the bolt is in the latched position respective to the one abutment and the detent is in detented position to hold the bolt against movement to unlatched position, means normally locating one detent in detented position, means normally biasing the other detent toward detented position, cooperating interengageable means on the other detent and on the one detent to locate the other detent in detented position against the action of the biasing means, an operating member mounted on the support 7 8 for bodily shifting movement relative thereto along 21 References Cited fixed axis between locked and unlocked positions and pivotal movement relative thereto about the fixed axis UNITED STATES PATENTS in each position, means coupling the operating member 3,190,682 6/1965 Fox et a1. 292-216 with the one detent in the unlocked position to move both 5 3,334,935 8/ 1967 Eddy 292-216 detents to undetented position upon pivotal movement of the operating member about the fixed axis, and means RICHARD MOOREPfimaW Examine"- for bodily shifting the operating member to the locked position to uncouple the operating member and the one detent. 292198 

